Au Lait
by KenSan1990
Summary: Kaiba and Joey are on a forced first date, and Joey doesn't like coffee. A quick blurb. Puppyshipping. Possible Oneshot.


A/N: This is...random. I wanted to write. And it doesn't really have a plot. I just went with it. Its partially unedited, but I'm sure there's a lot of deleted stuff. My only thoughts were: Joey hates coffee and he and Kaiba on a first date. Its mostly vague.

I hope you enjoy it. Just a bit of oddness I think.

Au Lait

"I hate coffee," Joey sneered. Kaiba didn't glance away from his paper.

"Then have tea."

Joey was still sneering, leaning back in the seat. "Don't most people say 'have something else'?"

"Then have something else," Kaiba corrected, still not looking away from the paper. "It's your prerogative."

They sat in a café, Joey watching the outside world with more fascination than what he was doing currently. Although it was only a tabletop between them, it felt like the No Man's Land of a battlefield. For Joey, there seemed to be nothing more terrifying than a first date. So far, it wasn't a date at all. It was just he and Kaiba sitting down; Kaiba reading the newspaper all aloof, and them having a conversation about what Joey wanted to drink.

"I think I may just get a soda."

"Then get a soda," Kaiba replied, flipping the page in the paper. Joey groaned closed mouth.

"What?" Kaiba flipped the paper down. If there was nothing else severe about his countenance, it was the pierce of his cobalt eyes.

"I thought this was a date, Kaib'." Joey was convinced he saw Kaiba roll his eyes before the paper went up again. "Kaib'."

The paper folded down, then folded again a few more times to be placed flatly on the table. It wasn't as if Kaiba wasn't trying, Joey was sure, because he could look at Kaiba and see that there was a noticeable difference in his attire. His usual trenchcoat was discarded away, and he didn't seem so bright as before. It was muted colors mostly. A dark wool suit coat overtop of a steel grey dress shirt and black slacks. Joey hazard to guess he was casual, not wearing a tie.

"Yes, Joseph?"

"I thought this was a date." He repeated.

"It is a date. October 17th is a day of the year," Kaiba leaned back, taking in Joey for the first time. Joey was hunched over the edge of the table, arms folded over one another, very closed in. Not that Kaiba couldn't tell by his voice, but his expression and his body language told Kaiba that Joey was more than annoyed.

"Stop bein' a smartass. Please, seriously. You agreed ta this."

"I agreed to meet you for coffee," Kaiba said. "Which you do not like."

Joey stuck out his tongue. "Killjoy."

Something of a mirthful laughter escaped Kaiba, if for only a brief moment. He scooped the paper back up, opening it again. "This was a mutual agreement because third parties believed it was necessary. I do not."

"You never think anythin' is necessary."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Do the words ever reach your brain before they come out of your mouth?"

"Yes they-hey!"

Kaiba smirked. "Simple pup."

"'Ey, none of that. We agreed ta none of the name calling."

"I don't see a legal binding agreement," Kaiba stated, and Joey looked prepared to yell at him, for which he set down the paper and said: "But I did give my word, and I will hold to it. Now...we were having a discussion, were we not?"

Joey was taken aback. Kaiba seemed-not nice, but not mean. At the very most he was polite, and at the very least it was still taciturn. Just like watching him calculate on a playing field. "Uh...I s'pose."

Kaiba's hands were folded together in front of him neatly, and Joey noted that his elbows never reached the table. He didn't slouch, his shoulders didn't seem to haughty even if his head was raised slightly to look down on Joey. No, nothing about Kaiba seemed to be off-putting other than he was still partially aloof. At least Joey had his attention.

Suddenly, he realized he had pretty poor mannerisms. Never having a reason to pull them out, Joey looked down on himself and wondered if he should mirror Kaiba or simply try to be better. He pulled himself up, letting his shoulders rest. His elbows slipped off the table and his hands laid flat. Nervousness rung in them, and he playing with his fingers to not let it show. "So...yeah, we were. 'Bout coffee."

"Which you don't like."

Joey glowered. "Yeah..."

"Was that a thrid party decision? Or did you just watch enough movies and figure it was correct?"

Joey cleared his throat and stared at the tabletop. "I figured you woulda enjoyed it." He said it fast and low. Kaiba leaned in.

"Excuse me?"

A red blush appeared over Joey's cheeks. "I said 'I figured you'd like it'. There."

Something in Kaiba slackened, and he leaned back. His hands tightened together some before relaxing. "Joseph...what am I going to do with you?" he seemed to smirk as he said it. "This must be a waste of time for both of us then; I'll be off. We met at least. That way you're friends will be appeased."

"Now wait just a flippin' minute."

Kaiba was halfway out of the booth. "Time is ticking Joseph. People and places..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can make time," he said. He was ernest in trying to keep the date. The contemplation on Kaiba's face, or the fact that he stayed at all, gave Joey cause to celebrate in the slightest.

"Perhaps," he said.

"Yeah, we might as well get somethin' while were here, right?"

Kaiba went towards the counter, telling Joey that that was the correct response. Joey followed him, hands tucked deep in his pockets as he read over the menu. "So uh...you know what you want?"

"Of course."

"Right...well. That makes sense..."Joey was almost sheepish now. It was as if something in him told him that he needed to be less combative around Kaiba, if only for the sake of them not killing each other where they stood. The same went for them not calling each other names. If it was supposed to a good first date, or any kind of first date, it needed to seem as though they were on the same level. "I uh...I'm thinkin' maybe I'll give coffee a whirl again."

"Do you know anything about what you would take?"

"No not really. Most of what I got was from my dad and that was...eh." He shrugged. Kaiba laughed to himself, looking up briefly before ordering. It took Joey a second to realize that he had ordered two things. "Ya gettin' two?"

Still silent, he paid the barista and waited. Joey shifted to his side, looking up and then to the barista who glanced at him. He opened his mouth to order. "Don't," Kaiba said.

"Wha? You got yer thing, I'll get mine."

"It's already done," he said. The barista set down the two drinks, Kaiba handing a coffee cup and saucer to Joey.

"What's this?"

"Yours."

"You ordered fer me?"

"Very astute." Kaiba was walking back to the table while Joey blanched at what had just happened. He was further confused when kaiba sat down again and continued to read the newspaper as if nothing was wrong.

"Kaib'? What the hell?"

"I ordered for you. I figured it would make this process less painful and make you far less foolish."

Joey sat down, looking at the light, frothy concotion in the cup. Across, he seen Kaiba's. A simple coffee cup with what looked to just be black coffee. Much to Joey's surprise, he hadn't touched it yet. He was neither looking toward nor away from Joey either, which he found almost odd.

"Guess I'll...give whatever girly drink this is a try..."he said, picking it up. He stopped. "What is it?"

"Does it matter?"

"No not really."

"Then don't ask."

"You drink yours then," Joey countered, setting it down.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "You're being ridiculous Joseph. We'll see if my money was wasted."

"And that's one more thing," Joey started digging in his pockets, trying to fish something out. "I ain't lettin' you pay for nothin' for me."

"Save it."

"No, I ain't budgin' on this one. Hate it as much as I do..."he pulled out a few bills and handed it over to Kaiba, pushing it on the table. Kaiba receded back, crossing his arms and looking at the money with a raised brow. "Take it, jackass."

"I thought we said no namecalling."

"That ain't namecallin'. That's truth-tellin'."

Kaiba leaned back, shifting in his seat a bit before staring Joey down. "Really now, Joseph?" His voice didn't hint at severity, sarcasm, or even anger. Neither did he seem mirthful, or humored, or even excited to be in verbal combat. He seemed so neutral to it. "I wouldn't want to get in a conversation with you about 'truth-telling' as you say."

"No? Well, that's good then. I'd have a heck of a lot ta say."

The money was still lying on the table between them, almost forgotten. "This is why this venture is pointless and naïve." Kaiba picked up the coffee cup and sipped from it before setting it down again. His eyes never left Joey.

In turn, Joey picked up his cup in both hands, treating it as if it were a bowl, and he sipped from it gently. His face scrunched up and he put it down. "Hot."

The paper was out again. Kaiba had cast aside the previous encounter as if it never happened.

After a few moments, Kaiba reached from behind the paper and grabbed his cup, still sipping at it. "This is...good I guess."

"It seemed approriate."

Joey raised a brow. "What's that mean?"

"What it sounds like."

Joey sighed. "Well, maybe I'm a little slow-" Kaiba smirked, "but what the hell does it mean?"

"It means its like you."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. Like you know a thing about me. Idn't that what this is s'pose to be? A 'get-ta-know-ya' section?"

"We don't need that, Joseph. We've known each other for a while."

"Yeah but..."Joey stopped, picking at his words. "Not like that, ya know? A different kind of 'know'. Man...have you ever been on a date in yer life?"

"Plenty of times." Joey let out a puff of air in disbelief. "I'm sure you don't think so; I'm sure you think I don't have time, but I have in brevity."

And they fell into silence once more. Joey was quick to drink the coffee after it cooled. Kaiba was still at a simple pace, reading the paper, hardly looking at Joey at all. Once his cup was almost empty he set it in the center of the table and looked to the money once again. Kaiba pushed it back towards Joey. "I have to go."

"Yeah, right. People and places."

"Precisely."

Joey stood up as well, pushing the money to Kaiba. "Take it. This wasn't a date, so there ain't no split or nothin'."

Kaiba was buttoning up the coat, looking out the windows as if searching for something. "As far as anyone else is concerned, we should treat it as such. And no doubt your band of merry men and Mokuba will decide that we should do it again, sometime."

Joey couldn't help but feel a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Right..."he said. "Sure you ain't just sayin' that?"

"I mean what I say, Joseph." He said, glancing out the front.

"Right."

Kaiba went to the doors and paused. "Oh, and I feel I should mention that I don't like coffee either."

Kaiba was out the door in a blink of an eye.

* * *

A/N: This really has no plot. If you read all the way through, I hope it was okayish. I think it was cute. It may have a continuance, it may not. Its just a blurby thing to me. Like I said, I hope it was enjoyable. Until next time, KenSan out!


End file.
